1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for sensing and identifying information about recording media or other material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many different types of recording devices are available in the market place. Such recording devices include photocopying machines, laser, ink jet and dot-matrix printers, facsimile machines and offset printing presses. Each of these recording devices can use one or more types of recording media in the form of sheet material. Photocopying machines, for example, form images on many different types of paper, as well as many different types of plastic transparencies. Also, photocopying machines can form images on recording media of various sizes. For instance, photocopying machines can use recording media having various sizes, such as 8xc2xdxe2x80x3xc3x9711xe2x80x3, 8xc2xdxc3x9714xe2x80x3 and A4 sizes.
Even with the more sophisticated photocopying machines, little information regarding the type of recording media being used is provided. As suggested above, the user can select one of a variety of sizes of the recording media upon which an image is to be formed. Usually, sensors in each source tray provide size information that is displayed on a display positioned in the console of the photocopying machine. Less sophisticated photocopying machines have source trays that are sized to accommodate only one particular size of the recording media.
Thus, it is possible that the user can determine the size of the recording media by viewing the console of the photocopying machine. Otherwise, in order for the user to ascertain any other information regarding the recording media, the user must ascertain this information on the user""s own accord. Likewise, other apparatus, such as laser printers, facsimile machines, ink jet printers and the like, similarly have limited abilities to automatically determine information about the recording media being used. Such information includes the size of the recording media, the material forming the recording media, the quality of the recording media, any surface treatments or coatings provided on the recording media, the density or weight of the recording media or the like.
Likewise, many different techniques for embedding information about the image formed on the recording media are known. Such known techniques including digital watermarking, data glyphs and the like. However, each of these known systems requires manipulation of the image data used to form the image on the recording media.
This invention provides systems and methods for obtaining information about recording media and/or images on a sheet of recording media by sensing one or more chemical compounds released from the recording media and/or images on a recording media.
This invention separately provides systems and methods that use artificial olfactory sensors to detect information about recording media and/or images on a recording media.
This invention separately provides systems and methods for tagging recording media with one or more sensible chemical compounds.
This invention separately provides systems and methods for tagging recording media with one or more sensible chemical compounds based on information carried by the recording media.
This invention separately provides systems and methods for tagging recording media by using toner materials that contain one or more chemical compounds. detectable using an artificial olfactory system.
In various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention, an edge or a surface of a sheet of recording media is provided with one or more chemical compounds that are exuded from the recording media, where the exudate from the recording media can be sensed and/or detected. In various exemplary embodiments, the one or more chemical compounds can be embedded within the media or arranged on the surface or the edge of the recording media to encode information about the recording media and/or images on a recording media.
Various other exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention include a media processing apparatus. The media processing apparatus includes an exudate sensing or detecting device and a processor. The media processing apparatus performs an operation on the media, such as forming an image on the media or creating an electronic image of an image carried by the media. However, it should be appreciated that any known or later developed operation that could be performed on or relative to the media could be performed by the media processing apparatus.
The media has one or more chemical compounds embedded within the media or on a surface or an edge of the media that exude material from the media. In various exemplary embodiments, the particular chemical compounds exuded by the media provide information about the media or about an image formed on the media. In various other exemplary embodiments, locations of the one or more chemical compounds embedded within the media or on the surface or the edge of the media form a code containing information about the media and/or the image carried by the media. In various other exemplary embodiments, both the combination of one or more chemical compounds and their location, embedded within the media or on the surface and/or edge of the media, encodes the information about the media and/or the image carried by the media. The exudate sensing device senses the chemical compounds exuded from the media and/or detects the locations where the one or more compounds are exuded by the media.
A processor communicates with the exudate sensing or detecting device and extracts the information from the sensor signals generated by the exudate sensing or detecting device. The media processing apparatus process the media based upon the extracted information.
Various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods of this invention include an exudate sensing system that detects the type, quantity and/or spatial distribution of the one or more chemical compounds and/or a desktop or handheld scanner and/or tagger that allows a user to encode information onto, and/or decode information from the media. Using one or more specific chemical compounds that are embedded in or applied to a document based on the content and/or source of the document allows the authenticity of a document to be determined. In various exemplary embodiments, the one or more chemical compounds do not affect the electromagnetic properties of the recording media. Thus, the one or more chemical compounds can be used to create a unique xe2x80x9csignaturexe2x80x9d that is virtually invisible to a device that senses the electromagnetic properties of the sheet or material, such as the ability of the sheet of material to reflect visible light. For example, paper money can be coded with one or more exudable chemical compounds. Whereas image and color can be duplicated to some degree, it may be difficult to duplicate an embedded and coded chemical signature.
Conventional copying and/or printing systems are presently limited to optically automatically detecting information about the recording media in the sheet feed or storage stacks. However, optical sensing is limited to non-image areas of the recording sheet and/or cannot be visible or affect the ability of the recording sheet to record an image. For some systems, such as large-scale plotters, it is necessary to know what kind of media is being used so that optimal print quality can be achieved. A exudate-based system enables copying and/or printing systems to detect media type, using non-optical techniques.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description of various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention.